Lee Byung-hun
| birth_place = Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea | nationality = South Korean | other_names = | education = Hanyang University (B.A. French Language and Literature) | occupation = Actor, model, singer | agent = BH Entertainment | spouse = Lee Min-jung | children = 1 | website = www.leebyunghun.kr | module = | hanja = | rr = I Byeongheon | mr = Ri Pyŏnghŏn }} }} Lee Byung-hun ( ; born July 12, 1970) is a South Korean actor, singer and model. He has received critical acclaim for his work in a wide range of genres, most notably Joint Security Area (2000); A Bittersweet Life (2005); The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008); the television series Iris (2009); I Saw the Devil (2010); and Masquerade (2012). His critically acclaimed film Inside Men (2015) won him the Best Actor prize in three prestigious award ceremonies: 52nd Baeksang Art Awards, 37th Blue Dragon Awards and 53rd Grand Bell Awards — a feat that has yet to be repeated. Lee has five films—''Joint Security Area'', The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Masquerade, Inside Men and Master—on the list of highest-grossing films in South Korea. In the United States, he is known for portraying Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), and starring alongside Bruce Willis in Red 2 (2013). He portrayed T-1000 in Terminator Genisys (2015) and Billy Rocks, a knife-wielding gunslinger, in ''The Magnificent Seven'' (2016). Lee was the first South Korean actor to present an Oscar at the annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Lee and Ahn Sung-ki were the first South Korean actors to imprint their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Career Beginnings and breakthrough Lee's career began in 1991 after a KBS talent audition and making his debut in the television drama Asphalt My Hometown. Lee drew attention with the action drama Asphalt Man and romantic film The Harmonium in My Memory, but it was only in 2000 that he made his big breakthrough with Park Chan-wook's Joint Security Area. The film broke the box office record and became the highest grossing Korean film at the time. Lee's role as a border-guard soldier won him the Best Actor award at the Busan Film Critics Awards. Global stardom In 2001, his popularity continued to climb when he starred in melodramas Beautiful Days and Bungee Jumping of Their Own. In 2003, he received the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards for his role in the poker drama All In. Due to his film and television roles, Lee experienced a rise in popularity across Asia, particularly Japan. ]] From 2005, he focused on film, earning critical acclaim for his performance in A Bittersweet Life directed by Kim Jee-woon, which was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee was nominated for Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and Grand Bell Awards, and won at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards and the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. He reunited with director Kim Jee-woon in the "kimchi western" The Good, the Bad, the Weird, taking on his first villain role. The film was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee's eye-catching performance in the film led to increased global recognition for him. This led to Lee's debut in Hollywood, where he played Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, also starring Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller. Back in Korea, he appeared in I Come with the Rain opposite American actor Josh Hartnett and Japanese actor Takuya Kimura. Lee returned to television in late 2009 in the espionage action thriller Iris as a secret agent who finds himself at the center of an international conspiracy. He reportedly received over 100 million won per episode for his role, the third highest in the country's drama history. Iris was one of the most expensive shows ever produced, and was a smash hit across Asia. Lee's performance earned him the Grand Prize at the KBS Drama Awards and Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2010, Lee starred in I Saw the Devil with Choi Min-sik, his third collaboration with Kim Jee-woon, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His portrayal of the intelligence agent won him the Grand Prize at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Acclaim and Hollywood roles Lee received acclaim for his portrayal of dual roles in the lavish period drama Masquerade. The film was a box office hit, becoming the 7th film in Korean history to surpass 10 million admissions. Lee won Best Actor at the Grand Bell Awards for his performance. and the Best Performance by an Actor at the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. On June 23, 2012, Lee, along with Ahn Sung-ki, became the first Korean actors to leave their hand and foot prints on the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. He was recognized as an emerging star in Hollywood for his role of Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and its sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. In 2013, he reprised his role as Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Lee then co-starred in the American film RED 2, the sequel to the 2010 action-comedy hit RED, alongside Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. Following his sex-chat scandal, Lee returned with the martial arts film Memories of the Sword in 2015. The film was shot in late 2013 and scheduled for release in 2014, but was postponed due to Lee's scandal. He received praise for his scene-stealing role as a young and ambitious warrior with a lowly status, but the film failed to do well and was criticized for its messy plot. The same year, Lee played a T-1000 in Terminator Genisys opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger. He then starred in Woo Min-ho's political crime thriller Inside Men, which became the top grossing R-rated movie of all-time at the Korean Box Office. Touted as the "star" of the film, Lee received critical acclaim and swept Best Actor awards at various film awards ceremonies. In 2016, Lee featured in the American crime thriller Misconduct. On 28 February 2016, Lee attended the 88th Academy Awards and presented the "Best Foreign Language Film" award with actress Sofia Vergara. He was the first Korean actor to present an award at the Oscars. The same year, Lee co-starred as knife-wielding gunslinger Billy Rocks in ''The Magnificent Seven'' with Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke. Returning to Korea, Lee starred in the crime thriller Master, followed by mystery drama Single Rider. In March 2017, Lee signed on with major Hollywood agency United Talent Agency. He was cast in the Hollywood action film Radiance. The film is directed by Patrick Lussier, who worked with Lee in Terminator Genisys. Lee then starred in historical epic The Fortress, and comedy-drama film Keys to the Heart. In 2018, Lee made his television comeback in Mr. Sunshine, written by Kim Eun-sook. Other work Lee formed a management company, BH Entertainment, which manages many actors including Han Hyo-joo, Go Soo, Jin Goo, and Han Ji-min. He owns a shop, BHNC, which sells hats, scarfs and wallets. Lee Byung-hun is noted in the video game industry for providing his likeness for the main character, Wayne Holden, in the 2006 game Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, for the Xbox 360, PS3 & PC. Ambassador roles In 2010, Lee was named California's tourism promotion ambassador to Korea. In 2013, Lee was selected as an honorary ambassador for this year’s annual meeting of the Association of Film Commissioners International, a group dedicated to helping facilitate international coproductions. The same year, he was appointed honorary ambassador to promote the 50th Daejong Film Awards. Personal life Lee was born in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, South Korea. He has a younger sister, Lee Eun-hee, who was Miss Korea in 1996. He graduated from Hanyang University with a major in French Literature and the Graduate School of Chung-Ang University with a major in Theater and Cinematography. In his spare time, Lee Byung-hun practices taekwondo. Lee married actress Lee Min-jung on August 10, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. The couple had briefly dated in 2006, then resumed their relationship in 2012. Lee's wife gave birth to their first child, a son, Lee Joon-hoo, on March 31, 2015. Blackmail scandal On August 28, 2014, Lee was blackmailed by singer from K-pop girl group GLAM and model Lee Ji-yeon who blackmailed him for 5 billion won in exchange for not releasing, on the internet, a compromising video of him making sexual jokes while drinking with them on July 3. Dahee and Lee Ji-yeon were arrested on September 1, after Lee reported the crime to police when they handed him two suitcases to transport the money. It was later revealed that the crime was fully intentional and pre-planned, as both Dahee and Lee Ji-yeon looked for plane tickets to escape to Europe and purchased two suitcases to be used for transporting the money. Moreover, the two women attempted to film an additional video of Lee hugging Lee Ji-yeon by secretly placing a smartphone in a kitchen sink, but they failed to do so. However, Lee Ji-yeon claimed that the blackmailing was an impulsive act after Lee broke up with her, for which Lee Byung Hun’s agency released an official statement stating that Lee had not once met her alone and that he mentioned to the two women that he wanted to stop meeting them when he sensed ulterior motives from them after talking about their financially difficulties and demanding he buys them a house. The final trial was held at the Seoul District Court on January 15, 2015, where Dahee was sentenced to a year in jail and Lee Ji-yeon to a year and two months in jail. On February, following the sentencing, Lee requested a pardon for the women while the prosecution in charge felt that the sentence was too lenient. On March, both women, who were in jail for six months, received a suspended sentence for two years following Lee's pardon request. Suspicious gambling charge Lee Byung-hun was sued by his girlfriend who broke up in 2009. His girlfriend claimed Lee hurt her mentally and physically because she only used him for entertainment, and sued him for compensation and chronic gambling charges worth 100 million won. Lee, on the other hand, claimed that her claims were all false, and that the men behind her claim demanded money from her to reveal the truth about her relationship with her girlfriend, and then responded with the threat. In the process of the increasingly heated debate between the two, TV show host Kang Byung-kyu appeared at the shooting scene of the TV drama Iris, adding Kang to the violent incident. On the other hand, when suspicions arose that Kang was the one who threatened Lee, Lee also sued him. Lee Byung-hun was cleared of charges in 2010, and her claim for damages was dropped because she also refused to participate. On the other hand, Kang was sentenced to one year in prison and three years of probation in 2013 on charges of assault and intimidation against Iris. Filmography Film Television series Others Discography Albums Singles Soundtrack Awards and nominations * List of awards and nominations received by Lee Byung-hun References External links * * * * * Category:1970 births Category:K-pop singers Category:Living people Category:Actors from Seoul Category:South Korean film actors Category:South Korean models Category:South Korean male singers Category:South Korean pop singers Category:South Korean television actors Category:South Korean taekwondo practitioners Category:South Korean expatriates in the United States Category:21st-century South Korean actors Category:20th-century South Korean actors Category:South Korean Buddhists